I am a refugee in Canada and I need to enter the USA. Is that possible with my Candian refugee travel document? Has anyone tried this? And, if not, what do I need to visit the States? It's an urgent situation.
1 Answer
Yes, it is possible (assuming you are not inadmissible under US law), but you will need a visa. It's hard to find the right page on the US embassy's pages because Canadian citizens generally don't need visas, and most of the content was prepared with them in mind.
A good place to start is the page on visa categories and requirements. From there you can also reach the DS-160 application form.
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How should I know that I am inadmissible by the US law or not? Nov 20, 2018 at 22:49
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@ShahadBayati you can learn about US immigration law, or you can ask an immigration lawyer, or you can apply for a visa and let the State Department tell you what they think. Common grounds include certain past immigration violations, a criminal history of sufficient gravity, and, recently and shamefully, citizenship of certain countries.– phoogNov 20, 2018 at 23:02
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@RoboKaren I believe you're thinking of the VWP restrictions, which do not apply here, and do not render anyone inadmissible, only ineligible for the VWP.– phoogNov 21, 2018 at 3:08
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1@phoog nothing shameful about it. Those countries refuse to cooperate with the US to establish the identity and background of the applicant, so the US visa authorities find it impossible to establish whether applicants should be granted. Rather than leaving them hopeful and then denying each application individually, they decided to just not even bother handling the applications, can't blame them.– jwentingNov 21, 2018 at 5:01
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3@jwenting that's the administration's disingenuous argument, and I don't buy it for a second. If it were true, citizens of the affected countries traveling on refugee documents, or perhaps even with residence permits, issued by "trusted" countries such as Canada would be admissible, but that is not the case.– phoogNov 21, 2018 at 5:49